Online Marketing for Tourism

It’s OK If You Don’t Want to Grow Bigger

2026-03-04T11:14:00.004+12:00

It’s OK If You Don’t Want to Grow Bigger

There’s a quiet pressure in tourism that doesn’t get talked about much.

The assumption that growth always means bigger.

More tours.
More staff.
More locations.
More markets.
More complexity.

And if you’re not moving in that direction, it can start to feel like you’re doing something wrong.

But here’s the truth that many operators only realise after years of building:

Not wanting to grow bigger doesn’t mean you lack ambition. It means you know what you value.

For some people, a bigger business brings energy and excitement. For others, it brings stress, distance from guests, and a version of work they never actually wanted in the first place.

There’s nothing noble about growing for the sake of it. Bigger doesn’t automatically mean better, happier, or more successful.

Many of the most resilient, profitable, and satisfying tourism businesses are deliberately small. They focus on depth rather than scale. They choose consistency over constant expansion. They protect their time, their standards, and their connection to the experience.

And that choice is rarely accidental.

It usually comes from understanding what kind of work you want to be doing day to day. Whether you enjoy being on the tour. Whether you like knowing your guests’ names. Whether you want your business to fit around your life, not consume it.

Growth can still happen in those businesses. It just looks different.

It might mean higher-quality guests rather than more of them. Better margins instead of more volume. Smoother systems rather than more moving parts. More confidence, not more chaos.

That’s still progress. And it’s still valid.

So if you’re feeling out of step with the constant push to expand, here’s the permission you didn’t know you needed:

You’re allowed to design a business that suits you.

One that’s sustainable. One that’s enjoyable. One that reflects how you want to live and work.

Bigger is just one version of success. It’s not the only one.

Cheers

Chris

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-ok-you-dont-want-grow-bigger-chris-torres-lz52e/

Don’t attempt to “scale” until you’re regularly selling out

2026-02-25T11:45:00.001+12:00

This is for the operator who feels behind because they are not “scaling” fast enough.

In a tour business, “scaling” is not a status symbol. It is capacity. More departures. More products. More guides. More moving parts to manage.

If you are not regularly selling out what you already run, adding more does not make you more successful. It just gives you more empty inventory to carry.

So what should you focus on instead?

Focus on becoming the easiest “yes” in your city. The operator local partners trust, because you are visible and you are reliable.

That “visibility” part is not a single networking event. It is repetition. Visitor centers. Chambers. Hotel teams. Planners. DMCs. You keep showing up until your name is known to them. That is how the snowball starts.

Then you back it up with the boring stuff that most operators skip. Reply to the damn emails. Quote when you said you would. Do what you promised. When someone is under the gun and another operator ghosts, you become the obvious call.

Get the same tour to sell out so often that you are turning people away. That is the moment the market is pulling you forward. That is when “scaling” stops being a word you say and becomes a problem you have to solve.

Inspired by Paul Whitten, founder of Nashville Adventures, and his approach to strategically growing his business.

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DVI7kBEEVWh/

🤔 Can you guess our most popular resources of 2025?? Kelsey Tonner, Guest Focus

2025-12-31T09:54:00.002+12:00

Hey, it's Kelsey here…

Every year tour operators in our community consume a lot of our free resources.

Watching Guest Focus videos, reading articles, attending webinars, etc.

But what were the most popular this year?

5 Most-Watched Videos of 2025:

From Boring to Brilliant: The Art of Storytelling on Tour - Transform your fact-heavy tours into captivating experiences through the power of storytelling
Tour Design 101: The Foundations of an Unforgettable Experience - Discover how operators have transformed standard offerings into specialized experiences
How to Price Tours for Profit: Boost Your Profits by 40% - We’re sharing three essential pricing frameworks that will help you see more profits in your business
AI for Tour Operators in 2025: How to Use AI in Your Tour Business – A complete toolbox of specialized assistants, not just ChatGPT answering questions
Building Communities: Complete Guide to Facebook & WhatsApp Groups for Multi-Day Tours - How to build community so you can build trust with your ideal target guests

5 Resources Tour Operators Used to Build Better Businesses:

The Guest Focus Formula™: Our proprietary framework for creating outstanding guest experiences that drive repeat bookings and referrals
Tour Description Templates: The specific structure that turns browsers into bookers on your sales pages
Marketing Funnel Framework: The VIP Marketing Method™ mapped across the 5 stages of travel planning
Pricing Strategy Tools: Cost-plus formulas, dynamic pricing models, and blended commission calculators that protect your margins
Tour Business AI Lab: Free access to workflows, prompts, and operator-tested AI applications

5 Sales Page Improvements That Increased Conversions:

Run the 10-point audit on your current sales page—most operators fail at least 3 critical elements
Add trust signals strategically throughout the page, not just at the bottom (cancellation policy, safety badges, credentials)
Use "Check Availability" instead of "Book Now" to reduce booking friction
Include a clear tour timeline or itinerary format that helps guests visualize the experience
Address the unasked questions your guests have before they become objections

5 Strategic Focus Areas for 2026:

AI Integration: Moving from experimentation to implementation—let AI handle repetitive tasks so you can focus on growth (watch our AI series here)
Sales Page Optimization: Your tour page is either quietly making you money or actively losing you bookings (watch our tour descriptions series here)
Data-Driven Pricing: Using reports and analytics to make informed decisions instead of guessing (watch our pricing series here)
Off-Season Revenue Planning: Strategic projects during quiet months that multiply bookings next season (watch our off-season series here)
Experience Design: Creating memorable, multi-sensory tours that guests recommend without being asked (watch our tour design series here)

The difference between busy operators and profitable ones often comes down to focus.

Not doing more things, but doing the right things consistently.

So gere's to a new year of strategic growth, not just harder work.

And of course to a 2026 filled with more insights, tools and resources from your friends at Guest Focus. ; )

Happy New Year!

Kelsey T & the Team at Guest Focus

P.S. open to sharing some love? A review or recommendation goes a long way…

Here are some quick links to make it as easy as possible to say thanks:

Desktop:
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/guestfocus/reviews
Google: https://g.page/r/CfETS_l0luNvEAg/review?rc

On Your Phone/Mobile Device:
FB —> You’ll have to open the FB app, search Guest Focus Page, then click ‘reviews’
Google —> This link will open our business profile on Google Maps, then click ‘reviews’

Kelsey Tonner
Founder, Guest Focus
guestfocus.com

Tour Business Coaching
Create Unforgettable Experiences.
Attract Your Ideal Guests.
Sell More Tours.

Tuesday Tip - Cut Unprofitable Segments Ruthlessly

2025-12-18T09:23:30.659+12:00

Tourpreneur Tuesday Tip

A USEFUL IDEA TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS

Are you spreading yourself thin trying to serve every customer type? Hidden Iceland was running small group tours that accounted for 50% of their departures but only 10% of revenue. By eliminating that segment entirely, they freed up operations and marketing resources to focus on premium and luxury private tours-and grew 5% despite cutting half their trip volume.

Try this: Pull your sales data and calculate what percentage of your revenue comes from each product line or customer segment. If you find a segment that requires disproportionate effort for minimal return, model what would happen if you stopped offering it. Sometimes the best growth strategy is strategic subtraction.

Inspired by how Hidden Iceland transformed their business by saying no to budget travelers and doubling down on luxury.

Feeling a lag in sales? Great post by Kelsey Tonner > Guest Focus

2024-01-18T08:07:00.005+12:00

Great post by Kelsey Tonner of Guest Focus, so am reposting it here :)

Hey, it’s Kelsey here… Let's get real for a sec.

Over the last few years, I've reviewed hundreds of tour descriptions.

(literally thousands between our coaching program, our tour description tune-ups, and the 200+ free strategy calls I’ve led in just the last 12 months)

…and I’ve seen a recurring trend.

Too many sales pages focus on the business itself rather than on what really matters: your guests.

It is an easy trap to fall into.

We all naturally spotlight our accomplishments and the fantastic things our business offers.

It's normal. We're proud of what we've built, after all.

However, in the midst of all this self-promotion, we often overlook a critical question that every customer has on their mind: "What's in it for me?"

Your potential guests aren't just looking for a service; they're seeking an experience that resonates with their personal needs and desires.

They're looking for that assurance that their time and money will translate into something memorable and valuable for them.

The key to successful sales pages lies in this essential shift:

Move from talking about 'us' to talking about ‘them’

Instead of listing your business's accomplishments or attributes, share the specific, tangible benefits of choosing your product or service.

Instead of saying ‘Our Guiding Team Is Fluent in 4 languages’

(this is about your business)

We should say something like this:

Effortless Communication: Our multilingual guides mean no language barriers, no fussing with translation apps, and getting your questions answered in real-time.

See what I mean?

Translate what’s great about your business into something meaningful for your guests.

Bonus tip: Watch out for too many words like ‘My, Our, We’ which are often used in sentences focused on us.

Instead, use ‘you’ and ‘your’ language to keep copy focused on your ideal target guest.

This week, I’m sharing a video about why your sales pages aren’t working, spotlighting some of the key things to consider when designing your sales pages. I share best practices on using testimonials, risk reversal and perceived customization, among other things.

Be sure to tune in!

If you’re ready to find out more after you check it out, happy to connect!

Book a free strategy call with one of our coaches here.

Great to have you here,

Kelsey T

P.S. Want to see the whole series? Subscribe to our Youtube channel and ring the notification bell to be notified of the next video release!

P.P.S. We have some new workshops coming down the pipeline… Keep your eyes peeled in the next few weeks!

Kelsey Tonner
Founder, Guest Focus
guestfocus.com

Tour Business Coaching
Create Unforgettable Experiences.
Attract Your Ideal Guests.
Sell More Tours.

Learn the power of Google 'Things to do'.

2023-12-31T13:38:00.003+12:00

Learn the power of Google 'Things to do'.

Tourpreneur is excited to partner with Google to provide you with this free course on how to harness the power of Google ‘Things to do’ for your tour & activity business.

The goal of this short course is to introduce you to ‘Things to do’, help you enroll, and harness its power to grow direct bookings for your business.

We’re launching this course in coordination with the announcement of Google’s new Ticket & Activities Editor, a way to list your tours on ‘Things to do’ directly through your Google Business Profile.

Even if you’re very familiar with ‘Things to do’, this course will help you get up to speed with the latest developments.

Are you using your Google Business Profile to the fullest?

2023-12-16T13:38:00.002+12:00

Yesterday Google held a fantastic event focused on small business owners harnessing the power of Google's tools to grow your travel businesses.

Here are a few takeaways and updates you should think about in relation to your Business Profile on Google (and if you don't have one, claim yours immediately!):

Do not “set and forget” about your Business Profile. Tend to it regularly—adding posts, updates, new photos, responding to reviews, adding or updating your tours. This matters a lot.
Use the new features of Business Profile, including "Business Posts" to announce discounts and product updates. These posts show up on your Business Profile and in search results. (50% of customers look for promotions and discounts when searching for a business online.)
Create an FAQ in the “Questions and Answers” section of your profile to save you time and help your customer.
You can now add links to your social media accounts. Up to 7 accounts, and they'll display 5 of them.
Update your photos at least monthly, and make sure they’re authentic—not staged, not overly edited.
Load your individual tours on your profile using the new Ticket Editor! Do it now, it's so easy. If you're using booking software, chances are they might be connectivity partners with Google Things to do. But if not, simply go into your Business Profile, click on Activities and load your tours, with links to the individual tour pages. Now your Business Profile becomes a one-stop shop for the customer, linking directly to your tours.
Mobile, mobile mobile: make sure your site is fast and friendly for phone users. Several Googlers brought this up, so it's clearly on their minds.
Use the analytics from your Business Profile! It's actually quite powerful. Google shares a lot of useful analytics with you, such as where your guests are coming, highest activity times and days, search queries that led them to your profile, and much more.

If you want to learn more about loading your tours as part of their 'Things to do' program, take our free course we've created in partnership with Google.

Getting Faster: Know Your Website, and Know What’s Slowing It Down

2023-03-29T08:26:00.004+12:00

The numbers don’t lie: Users prefer faster websites and applications.

There are many factors that impact the speed of your website.

Some you have control over; others you do not. This paper examines the various factors that impact web performance,

and the steps businesses can take to assess and improve the performance of their web properties.

https://content.cloudflare.com/NzEzLVhTQy05MTgAAAGKx7CkjnMPGM1-Z5FgXiUYqMcWKRiFboLmxWRUkdLQx2S3poh1bFswSmNp1xzdRbiEwm0y5qw=

SPTO SME Recovery Toolkit - now in Video Form!

2023-03-28T11:05:00.002+12:00

SPTO SME Recovery Toolkit Videos

Warm Pacific Greetings,

We are excited to announce that the SPTO SME Recovery Toolkit is now available in video format! The Toolkit was developed to support the recovery of small, medium, and micro-sized tourism enterprises in the Pacific. It provides guidance on the entire product development process, from understanding market trends to online sales and marketing.

We thank the SPTO member countries, industry and partners who contributed to this initiative and we hope you find these videos informative and helpful.

Best regards,

The Division of Sustainable Tourism

Pacific Tourism Organisation

These videos are a great way to gain insight into the toolkit and its chapters. We encourage you to watch each video to fully grasp the concepts and principles presented. Let us walk you through each of the videos and their corresponding chapters:

This chapter supports users to understand the evolving market trends. It provides guidance on different types of tour operators and agents before introducing key evolving consumer trends and how to apply these trends to your particular destination and business.

This chapter provides tips on adapting your product to ensure it appeals to the right target market. It presents important considerations that must be made in designing your tourism product. Learn how to refine your ideas for adapting or enhancing your product or creating a new experience.

This chapter provides you with essential information about international standards for health, safety, and security, as well as information on health and safety guidelines for COVID-19 safe operations.

This chapter guides users on pricing principles to ensure that your products are priced competitively while providing a profit. It walks you through the different steps to calculating prices for different types of products and how to allow mark-ups to be added with different businesses you might work with.

This chapter provides guidance in preparing your businesses for this new normal and re-evaluating how your business connects to customers, considering the importance of digitalization.

This chapter provides a clear understanding of the role played by staff, particularly tour guides, in the delivery of quality service and what practices to adopt to build reputation and trust.

In this final chapter, users will learn the different digital marketing options they can explore for their businesses. It introduces the different types of online sales and marketing platforms to promote your business, generate sales, and build relationships with your targeted audience.

Access the SPTO SME Recovery ToolKit here

Access the full SPTO SME ToolKit Videos Playlist here

For more information, please visit https://southpacificislands.travel/ or contact us at sustainable@spto.org

Radical Regeneration: A New Look at Sustainable Tourism #VIS2022

2022-09-28T09:14:00.003+12:00

Tourism is an important economic driver for islands.

The sector is actively shifting towards becoming more sustainable in the face of environmental degradation caused by climate change - but what exactly are the options being developed?

Find out in this session!

How Erik built a tour operator business from scratch (and how he sold it.)

2022-09-25T11:31:00.003+12:00

San Francisco tour founder Erik Hormann started with one Volkswagen bus and built a thriving vintage van tour business.

After 5 years, he sold it to new owners, bringing the business full circle.

This is his story and it is packed with lessons and advice for tour operators.

Women in Travel: The Highs and Lows of Changing your Career into Tours &...

2022-09-24T14:44:00.000+12:00

All Things Legal! - 199

2022-09-24T14:29:00.000+12:00

Airbnb to Kickstart Experiences After 2-Year Pause

2022-09-24T12:37:00.001+12:00

Airbnb mothballed its experiences business — and ceased investing in hotels — at the beginning of the pandemic, but CEO Brian Chesky said earlier this week that Airbnb will begin to invest in its experiences business again in 2023 after a two-year pause.

A file photo of an Airbnb host greeting participants in a bread-baking experience. Source: Airbnb

“It’s ready to invest like significantly in this business again,” he said.

Trotting out another e-commerce buzzword after discussing funnels, namely “flywheels,” Chesky argued that Airbnb’s homes and experiences businesses would invigorate each other.

“We have some really exciting things in the roadmap,” Chesky said, including for 2023. “And I think that experience is a great flywheel for homes because, again, the number one thing in travel is you want to have direct traffic, booking something unique that you can’t find anywhere else.”

Booking.com: Attractions Won’t Be a ‘Huge Money Spinner’

Booking Holdings Chief Financial Officer David Goulden, speaking at an Evercore technology conference September 8, noted that the company transitioned from a “homegrown acquisition strategy” for tours and activities — when it acquired Fareharbor in 2018 — to a partnerships model, such as through deals with TUI Musement and Viator.

He added that the market size and transaction values for attractions are not as substantial as for accommodations or flights.

“So I don’t think it will be a huge money spinner for us, but it’s certainly something that will create, I think, a lot of value for our customers, therefore, something we want to continue to focus on,” Goulden said.

Dennis Schaal, Skift

September 15th, 2022 at 1:47 PM EDT

https://skift.com/blog/airbnb-to-kickstart-experiences-after-2-year-pause/

Webinar: How to Master Social Selling for B2B

2021-05-28T14:12:00.001+12:00

SEO and Google's Upcoming Core Web Vitals Update

2021-05-07T09:39:00.003+12:00

Some of you have heard of it already. One of Google's most recent developments has been its Core Web Vitals update. This update adds three search signals to contribute to a website's rankings in search engines. Google plans to launch the update starting this coming June, making it one of the key marketing elements of the year for webmasters to consider. If you're unfamiliar with Core Web Vitals and what this update means for your online marketing efforts, there are certain aspects you should know about and steps you can take to prepare your website for optimal performance.

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Specifically, Google's Core Web Vitals update will contribute three of seven new ranking signals that affect a website's "page experience" score. These signals include:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) -- Pertains to a webpage's loading speed and visuals
First Input Delay (FID) -- Indicates a webpage's interactivity
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) -- Applies to webpages' visual stability

Core Web Vitals serve as direct ranking signals, but the exact weight of these signals is still unclear. More details below on each of them. The idea behind these signals is for Google to ensure that websites provide visitors with the optimal user experience, which is an aspect that Google has been increasingly emphasizing over the years.

If a website features "poor" Core Web Vitals, it will be disqualified from "Top Stories" results and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), the latter of which is vital for webpages to appear in mobile search results. To make sure your website performs the way it should, there are some ways to optimize your website and boost your page experience score.

How to Optimize for Core Web Vitals

To help you prepare your website for Core Web Vitals and achieve a high page experience score, implement the following steps.

Optimize Your Website for Mobile Responsiveness

Every webpage on your website should be optimized for mobile users. A majority of visitors are likely to visit your site through mobile, and the user experience (UX) design of your site could deter many visitors if you're not making it mobile-ready.

Make sure your webpages fit on mobile screens and that different features continue to work on a mobile browser. You can test mobile usability through Google Search Console, and manually test the site on your own mobile device to see if everything is accessible and looks good.

Optimize LCP with Preloaded Elements

You can accelerate page loading speeds by preloading certain resources on your webpages, which can positively impact your site's LCP metric, or Largest Contentful Paint. Tools like Chrome DevTools can reveal which on-page elements are your LCPs, which you can then optimize to load faster by prioritizing certain elements above the rest of the page.

Improve FID by Optimizing Your Website's Reaction Time

The FID, or First Input Delay metric, measures the amount of time it takes for users to wait for the browser to respond to any type of action taken on your webpages. If it takes too long for the browser to react, visitors could be quick to leave your site.

One of the main causes of a long FID is long tasks, which are a kind of JavaScript code that may cause issues with a website, including unresponsiveness or even freezing. Minimizing those tasks can help improve FID. You can use Chrome DevTools to identify long tasks and find out what's behind them. From there, you can take steps to break them up into smaller tasks.

Take CLS into Account by Creating Sufficient Space for Visuals

You can optimize for CLS, or Cumulative Layout Shift, by making sure there's enough space on the page for visual elements, including images and embeds. If you don't create sufficient space for these elements, they may shift as the page loads, which could rearrange content on the page, potentially frustrating the user and causing them to click on the wrong link or other assets. Simply reserve areas of the page for different elements, which will make sure the page loads uniformly for each user.

Get Rid of Annoying Pop-ups and Other Obstructions

In optimizing the usability of your website to appeal to every user and improve Core Web Vitals, you should also consider the effect that pop-ups or other obstructions may have on user experience. While you may want to prompt users to subscribe, take advantage of a sale, or perform another task with a pop-up window, keep your pop-ups within view without preventing the user from browsing your site. You can achieve this by having pop-ups appear toward the bottom or top of the page as opposed to the center, and make it easy for users to click out of the pop-up to resume browsing the full page.

Keep Your Website Consistently Secure

In addition to usability, a core component of any website is a secure browsing experience. People want to know that the information they submit on your site is secure and that they won't encounter any risks that may compromise their systems.

In addition to ensuring that your website doesn't expose users to phishing, malware, or other malicious content, you should use a secure HTTPS connection for each page as opposed to HTTP. More tech-savvy users may be quicker to trust your website if they see that it includes an HTTPS certificate that keeps their information out of the wrong hands.

Maintain an Optimal User Experience

Ultimately, the best way to optimize your website for Core Web Vitals is to consistently facilitate a good user experience. By keeping your website visually organized, mobile-friendly, fast to load, unobstructed, and secure, you'll be able to earn a higher page experience score that keeps you on Google's good side. You'll also improve your credibility among users if they have a good impression of your website from the start of their browsing journey. When you combine these efforts with a comprehensive SEO strategy, you'll be able to appear on top of search engine results pages (SERPs) and keep people on your website once they land there.

Debate on the benefits and risks of the Health Passport

2021-03-23T09:10:00.001+12:00

10 Attraction and Experiences Reopening Best Practices

2020-06-22T08:31:00.000+12:00

Our friends at Redeam have created a helpful info-graphic for those reopening to the public. These are excellent suggestions and a great reminder that reassuring your customers is an essential task in the coming months.

Share Your Safety Measures with Travellers

2020-06-15T08:44:00.001+12:00

74% of surveyed travellers said a checklist of safety measures on Tripadvisor listings would be very or extremely helpful.* To help rebuild traveller confidence, we’re launching our new Travel Safe initiative, which allows partners to share a checklist of their safety measures and their overall response to COVID-19. Businesses that activate the checklist will benefit from:

Listing Page Updates

Capture traveller attention with a notification at the top of your listing page that links to your safety measures and COVID-19 response

Enhanced Traveller Reviews

Gather information from recent visitors about their safety experience at your hotel with an enhanced review questionnaire

COVID-19 Search Filter [launching 23 June]

Increase your visibility and drive bookings by ensuring that travellers find you when they search for hotels that have added their safety precautions

You can add your safety measures in your Management Center beginning on 16th June. If you activate them by 19th June, you’ll be included in the launch of the overall COVID-19 search filter for travellers. In the meantime, you can check out our recent webinar for more information about traveller safety.

https://goto.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1324248&tp_key=3e335a6257

Watch Webinar

Hospitality Health Check - How to Make the Best of Your Brand Website

2020-06-12T08:53:00.000+12:00

Despite the unprecedented challenges we currently face, some hoteliers have used this quiet period as an opportunity to review their current sales, marketing and operational strategies. Get advice from hotel tech experts and plan for your recovery.

IDeaS has collaborated with a few industry partners to deliver a series of Hospitality Health Check webinars to provide professional insights and suggestions on how to stay competitive and refine your business strategies.

Please join us for the next 15-minute webinar in partnership with D-EDGE: “Revenue by Direct Booking – How to Make the Best of Your Brand Website.” Click here to view the details.

More health check videos are coming with different topics covering Competitive Intelligence, Channel Management, and Distribution & Optimisation.

Enjoy the videos and stay healthy!

IDeaS partnered with D-EDGE, the industry leader in hotel digital marketing and distribution technology, to help hoteliers review their current digital marketing and brand website strategies, and to optimise revenue by direct booking.

Watch the video for information on:

Making the best of your online storefront
Building an effective hotel brand website (7 tips)
Tracking the success of brand website marketing initiatives
Driving revenue by direct booking
What to do differently for building a website in China

WATCH NOW

Where Will Your Bookings Be in 12 Months?

2020-06-05T09:12:00.002+12:00

Greetings to our friends and colleagues around the world.

From all of the Travel & Adventure Show Team – to all of you, we hope you and your families are well and we can not wait to see you in person, face-to-face – with a little distance mixed in.

Over the past 16 years we have produced the Travel & Adventure Shows through three recessions, including the “Great Recession,” and now this most sudden COVID-19 economic downturn. Along the way, I have learned a few things and thought now might be a good time to share them:

First – this current downturn is different. It was sudden and not financially or economically induced. It was Government generated in response to a worldwide pandemic and simultaneously supported with massive stimulus and liquidity.
Second – It resulted in a massive and extremely quick increase in unemployment.
Third – It mandated travel restrictions.
Fourth – It may be a quicker recovery than anyone predicts.

Unlike other recessions, this one has hit the travel and tourism industry hard and swift. Yet I see signs that the industry will also enjoy a rapid recovery. Let’s look at three very important recent data points:

Contrary to what most expected, U.S. personal consumer income SURGED by over 10.5% in April – thank you stimulus.

Personal Consumption retracted 13.6% in April. If you are like me you were at home and stores, restaruants and entertainment are all closed there’snothing to spend on.

Most importantly, the consumer U.S. Savings Rate skyrocketed to 33% in April.

Let’s sum it up – income is up, spending down. The result - high savings.

Consumers are flush with cash tired of being at home and have massive pent up demand.

We already see airlines are increasing capacity and resuming schedules as consumer bookings begin to rise. Businesses are reopening and we are seeing a decline in jobless claims.

Consumer Sentiment turned the corner and rose in May from April lows – compare that to the Great Recession that began in 1998 – Consumer sentiment was much lower and took over four years to regain traction.

By the way, if you missed ATTF click here for a replay. Over 1,000 travel and tourism executives joined us for a three-hour virtual conference chocked full of economic, industry and demographic information on the state of the American Traveler.

American Traveler Sentiment continues to rapidly increase. In the first week of June, Destination Analysts saw over 50% of travelers are ready to travel for the first time since the pandemic lockdown.

The fact is the American Consumer is resilient and is getting ready to spend.

The Question is: Will they Spend with you?

So back to lessons learned from past recessions.

During tough times MARKETING is more important than ever!

There’s an adage that captures this well:

“If sales are your problem today, marketing was your problem 12 months ago.”

The problem here is that when finances are tight, executives have a hard time thinking long-term. It seems simple to cut back on efforts that won’t pay dividends immediately, so it’s common for marketing to be the first to go.

Resist the urge to go this route. All you’re doing with this strategy is giving yourself a bigger revenue problem down the line. In six months, eight months, or a year, you’ll be wondering where all of your customers went—and the answer will stem from your marketing cuts.

Think of your marketing costs as the costs of acquiring and maintaining your customer base.

Marketing is the cost of generating revenue.

Why would you cut back on those efforts?

Is there a pent-up demand for travel? Of course.

Are consumers ready to travel? Getting there.

Will where and how they travel change? YES.

Many tourism boards and tour operators are already adjusting how to offer exciting vacation options in a COVID-19 world. There is quite optimistic information growing on multiple effective vaccines being available in Q4 2020, and infection rates are rapidly declining.

One thing is for sure - travelers will put added emphasis on their PROCESS OF TRAVEL as a decision point in booking vacations.

So, for travel marketers and tourism organizations the time is now to put into motion marketing and communications to build confidence and inspire travelers to plan their trips.

The main takeaway is that companies that invest in marketing during a recession achieve greater gains in market share (both during and after the downturn) than companies that cut back.

We know that Travel Enthusiasts will be the first to travel and the first to book both domestically AND internationally.

It’s why the Travel & Adventure Shows are AMERICA’S TRAVEL RECOVERY SHOWs and the ONLY Major Shows in 2021.

What’s more, we are actively increasing our digital reach to our attendees and delivering new marketing vehicles for you to get your message to Travel Advisors & Consumers. Look for our announcements soon for both TravelShows.TV and our new TAS Virtual Trade Exhibit Hall / Directory.

We are here to help you every step of the way.

The Dallas Travel & Adventure Show is on in August and we still have booths available to help you capture bookings. Our 2021 schedule is published at TravelShows.com and our Recovery Rate Special has been extended to June 15^th to help you stretch your budget.

Call us today and let us maximize your marketing spend reaching the Americans who ARE TRAVELING.

Till next time… the Adventure Continues.

John Golicz
CEO, Travel & Adventure Show Series

http://e-campaign.travelshows.com/from-the-ceo-travel-adventure-show-update-4

Investment Readiness for Green Finance Mechanisms initiative

2020-06-02T14:28:00.000+12:00

GREEN INVESTMENTS FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

ALL REGIONS

Registration

Under the new Investment Readiness for Green Finance Mechanisms initiative, the UNWTO will work alongside the IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries, on a series of training programmes. One of the main focuses of the new initiative will be working with private sector partners to promote green finance and share experience in resourcing sustainable buildings. The initial cooperation will consist in a series of trainings to promote green investments for a long term the recovery of the tourism sector. The first training is planned to start on 4 June, 2020 at 15:00 CET (Madrid time) in a webinar format, and it will culminate with an accreditation training provided by the EDGE Experts.

PURPOSE

UNWTO is partnering with the IFC for a series of technical training programmes aimed at promoting green finance and unlocking its potential to accelerate tourism’s recovery and stimulate sustainable growth.

EVEN MORE HILARIOUSLY BAD MANAGEMENT RESPONSES ON TRIPADVISOR

2020-05-29T09:30:00.002+12:00

You’ve put in the hard work, the blood, the sweat, the hours, everything you can possibly think of, all of which you did with a smile on your face. But at the end of the day you get home, turn on your computer and there it is: not just a bad review, but an outright terrible one. You’re absolutely fuming, and in the moment you put your professionalism aside and you fight back, writing a rude answer blaming the customer, using irony, personal attacks, sarcasm, and totally denying the situation. Then you wake up and realize that it was a dream. Because you’re not that person.

There are countless stories of bizarre or ridiculous TripAdvisor reviews, and the hospitality industry can be a vicious one. Perception is everything, and while it’s hard not to take certain comments personally, this is the business of customer service. It’s important that you answer all reviews, regardless if they’re positive or negative, but with not-so-glowing responses, what you write requires some additional consideration. What remains essential is acknowledging and accepting responsibility for what went wrong, indicating that you’ve learned something and that you’re going to do better next time.

Accordingly, it’s time for another installment of bad management responses to TripAdvisor reviews, where we look at answers that likely should have been kept on the inside rather than put out there for the whole internet, and what would have been a better way to approach responding. Be sure to check out our earlier two blogs to be caught up on all the tips and ways to address these precarious situations. As you’ll see, we’ve identified a variety of ways not to respond. Once you’re caught up, keep reading for more laughs, examples of what not to do, and suggestions for how to positively diffuse negative reviews.

Five Hilariously Bad Management Responses on TripAdvisor
MORE Hilariously Bad Management Responses on TripAdvisor

FULL POST HERE....

Outdated Website Features to Avoid

2020-05-15T16:10:00.002+12:00

The abundance of web features available may leave you more confused than ever, rather than excite you. Knowing which components to include and which to ditch feels like the task for an expert but it isn’t! Here is a short guide to highlight the website features you should avoid.

Before we begin, it’s important to understand why outdated features can be harmful to your website. There are certain elements that are affected by website features, one of them is user experience. It’s something you need to constantly be referencing and taking into account when building or improving your website. User experience, as the name implies, is all about giving visitors a positive experience on your site, making processes easy so that they want to return to your website. The design of your website helps to point customers in the right direction and finalise sales.

Another factor influenced by web features is page speed. Although many web features can look good, they can considerably slow down your page’s loading speed, and as a loading speed of as low as 5 seconds increases your bounce rate (the rate of people leaving your site) probability by 90%, it’s pretty clear that sometimes you need to choose speed over style.

Nowadays, we are all short of time and people make snap decisions about whether your website is worth their time or not. Outdated features can make your website look poorly maintained, not exactly a factor which inspires trust in your visitors. And we all know, no trust means no purchase. A professional, up-to-date website can be the key to sealing the deal on a sale.

Let’s look at those features that you need to leave behind to be able to move forward.

GALLERY SLIDERS

You might be shocked by some of the features we recommend avoiding, and gallery sliders will probably be one of them. They are one of the most common website features, but times change. What are they? A series of pictures, sometimes with content included, which showcase the companies products on a carousel which you can move along with arrows.

These are often used in the hero area of a homepage, the prime real estate of a website. The area that visitors see first and where they make the crucial decision whether to stick around to find out more or move on. You may be thinking, well they are a great idea, you can showcase your key products in a small, important space. This is the very reason they became popular to begin with, but we have learnt a lot since then, including new methods to use space to our advantage.

What’s more, packing all that information into a small space is more likely to overwhelm visitors and obscure your company message. You need to make sure that the hero area is a clean and precise space with a stunning photo. Your visitors should land on that page and know exactly why you are special. Use a designated section further down the page to showcase your products, your users will appreciate the comprehensible, uncluttered structure.

Even more convincing is the fact that these gallery sliders can negatively impact your page loading speed as well as your user experience. Getting rid of this feature can improve your website’s structure and increase your site speed. Two for one!

POPUP LIGHT BOXES

These popup forms often appear when you first enter a site and darken the rest of the page, drawing your attention to, most commonly, a newsletter subscription. There’s a lot that’s wrong with these, firstly, it’s not a good idea to ask people to subscribe to a newsletter before they’ve had time to read your content. If you do insist on having a popup, ensure it pops up after a certain amount of browsing, or when users exit the website.

Secondly, and one of the most important factors, the popup lightbox interrupts the visitor’s navigation through your site. This lack of control can often cause visitors to simply leave the site, especially if it is mixed with the frustration of not being able to close the popup. Allow users to navigate the site as they please.As a mild control freak myself, I can tell you, seeing a popup lightbox on a website often sends me straight back to Google search.

AUTOPLAY ON AUDIO AND VIDEOS

The autoplay feature is when videos or audio from a website automatically play when you enter a page, and it has often been described as a user experience nightmare. Imagine you are on a conference call and quickly want to check something on a website but you are disrupted by the site’s loud autoplay audio or video. As I said, a nightmare.

Consider your users with visual impairments, the autoplay overwhelms screenreaders, making it impossible for them to navigate the website. They arrive at your website and are then bombarded with unwanted audio and have to investigate how to turn it off (if they can even be bothered). Not exactly a pleasant experience.

This is another situation where power dynamics are important, you’re restricting visitors’ freedom to move through your site. We know the domino effect of curbing control: customers become frustrated, they leave the site, leaving you with no sales and a higher bounce rate, which means you move down the Google rankings. The takeaway: you need to give people the option to start and stop media when they want.

EXTERNAL LINKS OPENING IN THE SAME TAB

It’s definitely worth adding external links to respectable websites into your content. Think of it as a tree creating roots to stabilise itself. You stabilise yourself in the Google rankings by referencing other websites and getting them to link you in their content.

But don’t neglect the basic rules of web design, you want users to stay on your site. If your external links open in the same tab, you’ve lost them. Your users are galloping off into the expanse of another website. In 2020, there’s no excuse for having external links open in the same tab, check and double-check that all open in a new tab, and keep those visitors on your website.

Also from a personal perspective, there’s nothing worse when you open a link to read later and lose your place in the current site because it opens in the same tab. Think about the user experience from your point of view, and what processes frustrate you when you’re visiting a website, I know I have a long list. Then when building or improving your website, make sure you avoid those features.

NON-RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN

Last but not least, non-responsive web design. In our mobile device-driven world, responsive web design is a must. If your website is not optimised for mobiles and tablets, you are missing out on sales, because not only do over 50% of website views come from mobile devices, it also improves your Google ranking.

It’s a feature which adjusts the display of your website according to the device it’s being viewed on. It adjusts the menu, images, and pixels to improve user experience and to facilitate the management of the site. Instead of paying for different websites for mobile and desktop, you have one site that adjusts to all platforms.

If your website display doesn’t adjust to mobile devices, it looks outdated to visitors. If they’re on the fence about buying from you or your competitor, this feature could be what convinces them to go with your competitor. Responsive design makes your website more accessible and opens the door to a whole new audience.

If you’re reading this article and realising that your site is in need of a serious redesign, there are options. Ask customers, friends, and family to go through your website and give you feedback. We’ve also got a range of tips on how to improve your website in our blog. Or even better, reach out to us. Our design team knows the ins and outs of user experience and can help you build a website showcasing up-to-date features and technology. It’s never too late to upgrade your site!

COVID-19 Webinar Series – Making Decisions in Challenging Times (EMEA)

2020-05-01T09:54:00.000+12:00